Benny Wenda: Indonesian military and police torture and kill children in Paniai, West Papua

My heart filled with grief and sadness when at least five of my
people were brutally massacred by the Indonesian military and police in West
Papua on Dec. 8, just for protesting against military violence against
children. Torturing and killing children is a crime against humanity, and those
responsible must be brought to justice.

Five West Papuan youth, age 17-18, were massacred by Indonesian military and police, who shot into a crowd of protesters Dec. 8. They were protesting an incident the night before, when younger children were beaten and a 12-year-old tortured for complaining that a military vehicle was being driven with its headlights off.

Alpius Youw, Alpius Gobai, Saday Yeimo, Simon Degei and Yulian
Yeimo were all boys aged between 17 and 18 and were all shot dead by the
Indonesian military yesterday in Paniai. This horrific tragedy occurred when
the Indonesian military and police mercilessly opened fire upon a crowd of
people, mostly youths and children who were demonstrating against the torture
of another 12-year-old boy by Indonesian soldiers.

There is absolutely no excuse for the cold blooded massacre of
between five and 12 innocent boys and I want to say that I fully condemn this
evil human rights atrocity. How can the Indonesian government ever defend its
position in West Papua while it continues to massacre my people, even children,
just for speaking out against military brutality?

There is absolutely no excuse for the
cold blooded massacre of between five and 12 innocent boys and I want to say
that I fully condemn this evil human rights atrocity.

Events such as this horrible day of bloodshed in Paniai reveal to
the world exactly what the Indonesian government is to this day doing in West
Papua. Recently I was interviewed by
BBC Indonesia and I declared that I do not trust the new Indonesian president
Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and do not believe that he will bring any positive change
for my people.

Outside the Indonesian embassy in London on Dec. 13, the Free West Papua Campaign and British friends protest the Dec. 8 massacre of West Papua youth

This heinous massacre against the Papuan youth is exposing
Jokowi’s lies to the world and is proof that he is continuing to murder the
next generation of my people just like former Indonesian presidents have done,
with no regard whatsoever for our human rights.

With so much evidence coming out of West Papua every day, the
world cannot remain blind to my people’s suffering while my country is under
illegal occupation and my people, including children, are being viciously
massacred by Indonesian soldiers. We will not be silent.

I am calling upon the international community to condemn this act
of extreme terror towards my people who were only protesting against military
brutality. Please look at the reality of what is really happening to my people.
Men, women, children – all of us are being killed like flies in our own country
by an occupying Indonesian army.

I ask all supporters and friends including human rights
organizations, NGOs and church groups to also fully condemn this massacre of
boys and children in Paniai. Please share and widely publicize this atrocity so
as to increase worldwide awareness about the genocide in West Papua.

I am calling upon the international
community to condemn this act of extreme terror towards my people who were only
protesting against military brutality.

Please help to lobby politicians to support my people in breaking
free from the Indonesian military occupation by supporting us in our struggle
for self-determination and independence. You can send this letter to
your political representatives and ask them to support media freedom and
self-determination in West Papua. My people are in desperate need of voices to
report the reality of this genocide we are facing every day.

Benny Wenda leads the protest in London. Wenda is a West Papuan independence leader and international lobbyist living in exile in the U.K., where he was he was granted political asylum in 2003 by the British Government following his escape from custody while on trial in West Papua.

On behalf of the Free West Papua Campaign, I give my full and
deepest condolences to the families of all those ruthlessly murdered in the
Paniai massacre. Their loved, their youths and children died protesting for all
our rights, so that freedom and justice will one day come to our people as a
whole.

The victims of this terrible day will be remembered in the history
of West Papua forever along with the other hundreds of thousands of innocent
Papuans who have died in our freedom struggle. May they rest in peace.

Having just returned from Vanuatu, where I have been attending a
reunification conference for all West Papuan independence leaders, I have great
hopes for West Papua’s freedom struggle. But such massacres as these cause
great pain for all Papuans, showing us the urgency of our people’s quest for
the liberation from this violence and illegal occupation.

It is for this reason that I am writing these words as a cry for
help. Please see the suffering of my people and take action to help
us. We are desperately in need of international support to help us find true
peace and freedom in our own country.

Please support my people in our peaceful struggle against these
horrors of colonialism and genocide. We want our rights to be restored and our
justice granted. We want a free West Papua.